CONTENTS

Part 1. Regular Employee Results

Section 1
Salary by Job Title
Section 2
Salary by U.S. Regions and Canadian Provinces
Section 3
Salary by Number of Years of Experience in the
Quality Field
Section 4
Salary by ASQ and Exemplar Global Certification
Section 5
Salary by Six Sigma Training
Section 6
Salary by Number of Work Hours
Section 7
Salary by Nonexempt vs. Exempt Status
Section 8
Salary by Number of Years in Current Position
Section 9
Salary by Number of Years in Current Position
and in the Quality Field
Section 10
Salary by Number of Employees Overseen
Section 11
Salary by Division Size, Organization Size and
Location of Headquarters
Section 12
Salary by Industry
Section 13
Salary by Geographic LocationU.S. and Canada
Section 14
Salary by Organizational Quality Infrastructure
Section 15
Salary by Extent of Quality Responsibilities
Section 16
Salary by Highest Level of Education
Section 17
Salary by Highest Level of Education and
Number of Years in Quality
Section 18
Salary by Exemplar Global Certification
Section 19
Salary by Gender and Age
Section 20
Size of Raise and Additional Annual Payments

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p. 29
p. 34
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Part 2. Self-Employed Consultant Results

Section 21
Consultant Overview

Section 22
Base Earnings by Years of Experience
Section 23
Base Earnings by Education and Training

Section 24
Base Earnings and Rates by Age,
Gender and Geographic Location

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Part 3. International Results

Section 25
Introduction to International Results
Section 26
China Results
Section 27
India Results
Section 28
Mexico Results
Section 29
Other International Results

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Part 4. Culture of Quality

Section 30
Culture of QualityExpanded Results

Note: All sections printed in this issue of QP are

also available in the online report in PDF format at
www.qualityprogress.com/salarysurvey.

2014

QP
SALARY

Organizational culture
affects salary and can
make or break employee
morale, survey shows

SURVEY

Satisfaction Not
Guaranteed?
by Max Christian Hansen
ARE YOU HAPPY with your salary?
When we asked that question in this years QP
Salary Survey, 61% of respondents answered

Historical average salaries

for U.S. employees / TABLE 1

in the affirmative. Another 10.7% were neutral,

while 28.3% said they were dissatisfied.
The fact that nearly one-third of respon-

Percentage
change

Change
2004

$69,704

2005

72,318

$2,614

3.75%

dents were less-than-pleased with their earn-

2006

77,049

4,731

6.54

ings shouldnt be surprising. Salaries have

2007

80,207

3,158

4.10

2008

81,480

1,273

1.59

2009

83,442

1,962

2.41

the average salary for full-time quality profes-

2010

85,383

1,941

2.33

sionals in the United States. At $88,423, that

2011

87,086

1,703

1.99

2012

86,734

(352)

0.40

2013

88,606

1,872

2.16

2014

88,423

(183)

0.21

stagnated, as shown by our leading indicator

number is down $183, or 0.21%, from last years

average of $88,606. This decrease is small and,
due to the large variance in salaries, statistically insignificant.

Table 1 includes results for: xFull-time

employees, Parttime employees,
xU.S.employees, Canadianemployees,
Internationalemployees

December 2014 QP 17

Responses also show survey takers were getting

guard and promote it. These respondents said they

accustomed to salary increases. This was only the

believed their unsatisfactory pay wasnt necessar-

second time since 2004 that average salaries failed

ily a function of the economy, but of organizational

to rise from the previous year, as Table 1 (p. 17)

culture.

shows.

Culture and satisfaction

But the question remains: Why do earnings fail

to meet expectations for some and not for others?

In this years survey, we wanted to probe how an

Many respondents described their own situ-

organizations culture of quality might relate to sal-

ations in verbatim answers in some parts of the

ary and satisfaction. We added several questions

survey. Of those who are dissatisfied with their

related to the topic, and the answers shed some

salaries, some blamed the economy, which they

light on the specific aspects of culture that contrib-

contend still affects some organizations ability to

uted to how respondents perceived their jobs and

offer employee raises.

salaries. Specifically, survey questions addressed:

Many survey respondents mentioned the num-

Whether the respondents organization pays for

ber of years theyve gone without getting a raise,

quality training and ASQ certifications.

and a surprising number said it had been more

Whether the respondents organization demon-

than three years. Others said they believed their

strates that it values ASQ certifications.

salary was low because their organizations failed

Whether the organization promotes certain

to properly value quality and the people who safe-

quality approaches or methods.

We also asked how each respon-

Satisfaction with job and salary based on

indicators of company culture / FIGURE 1
Indicator of organizations approach to quality

Organization promotes quality

through top management support

80.3
69.7
67.9
75.2

Organization uses Six Sigma

66.1

Organization pays cost

of ASQ certifications

64.5

Organization pays cost

of quality-related training

63.9

71.1

71.5
63.7

All respondents who

answered culture questions
Organization doesnt pay
cost of ASQ certifications
Organization doesnt pay employees
for holding ASQ certifications
Organization doesnt pay for training
Organization doesnt use any
quality system or method

68.3
61
60.9
51.6
57.3
51.2

isfaction, we extrapolated how an

ity affected employee satisfaction.
Many of the results, as Table 2 (p.
20) shows, arent surprising.
Organizations that pay for em-

53.5

for example, seem to have slightly

happier employees, with 63.9% satisfied with their salaries, compared
to the 61% satisfaction average for
all respondents (line 1).
The effect is enhanced when
organizations pay for ASQ certifications (line 4). Other results may
not be surprising, but heres some-

46.8

thing you might never have thought

47.4
46.7

about: When an employer demon-

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

Base earnings
Percentage of employees
satisfied with job

By cross-tabulating these answers with data on employee sat-

ployee training (line 2 of Table 2),

71.3

Organization values ASQ certifications

and pays employee for holding them

motes a culture of quality.

organizations approach to qual79

Organization uses Baldrige criteria

dents organization instills or pro-

Percentage of employees
satisfied with salary

strates it values ASQ certifications

by paying extra to those who hold
them, employees are somewhat
more likely than average to be happy with their salaries (line 6).
Some findings are surprising

18 QP www.qualityprogress.com

2014

QP
SALARY

Salaries this year paint a picture of

stagnation: At $88,423, the average
salary of respondents from the United
States is within $183 of last years
average salary.
only in the size of the effect. Consider how much

were satisfied with their salaries.

dissatisfaction there is at organizations that dont

Of course, not all respondents did this, and some

pay for employee training (line 3). Similarly, while

specified they were happy or unhappy with one

28.3% of respondents overall were dissatisfied with

aspect, but provided no commentary on the other.

their salaries (line 1), in organizations without an

Thus, when the answers were coded as to whether a

identified quality method, that percentage of re-

respondent was happy or unhappy with their job or

spondent dissatisfaction was much higher at 35.6%.

salary, there were some answers that were neutral

Its just one more indication that despite the sala-

SURVEY

or noncommittal on one variable or both.

ry stagnation that has come with the slow economy,

For example, line 1 of Table 2 shows that of all

a career in quality can be fulfilling, at least for those

respondents who answered the questions related to

organizations that choose to embrace quality and

organizational culture, 61% were satisfied with their

back it up with action and commitment.

salaries, while 28.3% were dissatisfied. The sum of

these numbers is 89.3%, which means 10.7% gave an

Distinct parts

answer somewhere in the middle.

A majority of survey respondents picked apart the

Armed with information about both jobs and sal-

question, Are you satisfied with your job and sal-

aries, job satisfaction was charted against the ques-

ary? and broke answers to the question into two

tions related to indicators of organizational culture.

partsspecifying separately whether they were sat-

Figure 1 shows this data for the same subset of cul-

isfied with their jobs as a whole, and whether they

ture indicators shown in Table 2.

CULTURE OF QUALITY WHITE PAPER RELEASED

Earlier this year, ASQ and Forbes Insights partnered to publish a white
paper about the importance of the
culture of quality in organizations.
Results from a survey and related
interviews are the basis of Culture
of Quality: Accelerating Growth and
Performance in the Enterprise.
The white paper includes indepth analysis of survey data from
2,291 respondentsspecifically,
opinions related to organizations
quality cultures and how those

cultures were being developed and

sustained.
Also incorporated into the white
paper was insight from interviews
of senior executives and consultants on developing and sustaining
a quality culture.
One section, IncentivesAn
Essential Component of a Culture
of Quality, addresses employee
compensation: 56% of world-class
organizations are more likely to
tie personal compensation, cash

bonuses or promotions to quality metrics. The organizations also

are more likely to implement more
unique programs, such as those
allowing customers to nominate an
employee for an award or recognition.
You can download the full white
paper at www.cultureofquality.org.
The website also features an online
self-assessment tool for participants to evaluate their organizations cultures of quality.

December 2014 QP 19

Likelihood of satisfaction with salary based on

indicators of organizations quality culture / TABLE 2
Satisfied with
salary

Dissatisfied
with salary

1 All respondents who answered culture questions (average)

61%

28.3%

2 Organization pays cost of quality-related training

63.9

26.6

3 Organization does not pay for training

46.8

36.5

4 Organization pays cost of ASQ certifications

64.5

25.5

5 Organization does not pay cost of ASQ certifications

51.6

35.6

6 Organization values ASQ certifications and pays employee for holding

them

63.7

26.2

7 Organization does not pay employees for holding ASQ certifications

51.2

35.9

8 Organization uses Baldrige criteria

67.9

23.5

9 Organization uses Six Sigma

66.1

26

10 Organization does not use any quality system or method

46.7

35.6

11 Organization promotes quality through top management support and

involvement

69.7

19.7

Table 2 includes results for: xFull-time employees, Parttime employees,

xU.S.employees, xCanadianemployees, xInternationalemployees
Green cells signify a higher-than-average satisfaction metric than for all respondents (row 1).
Red cells signify a lower-than-average satisfaction metric than for all respondents (row 1).
Percentages do not add to 100% because there were some neutral or non-committal answers that have
been omitted from each line.

Money Talks

What will be the future of quality?

As long as there are customers, there

Among other things, Figure 1 (p. 18)

shows that for every indicator shown,
more respondents report being satisfied
with their jobs overall than being satisfied
with their salaries. Figure 1 also shows
the dismal state of morale among quality

will be a quality field. A strong future

professionals who work for organizations

depends on the educational level

that lack an identifiable quality approach

of entry-level employees and their

continual training. I think the future
is bright.

Greg Viau
director of quality and safety
Harbor Steel and Supply Corp.

or method.

Industry breakdown
We also looked at which industries had the
most and least-satisfied quality professionals. Respondents who work for organizations in the information services industry,
for example, were most likely to be satisfied with their salaries, as well as happy
with other aspects of their jobs, as Table
3 shows.

20 QP www.qualityprogress.com

2014

QP
SALARY

Top and bottom industries for satisfaction,

training and certifications in the U.S. / TABLE 3

SURVEY

Satisfied
with
salary

Satisfied
with job

Organization
pays for qualityrelated training

Organization
pays for ASQ
certification

63.2%

69.8%

81.9%

73.4%

Most likely to be satisfied with Information services

job and salary
(27)

81.3

81.3

62.3

58

Least likely to be satisfied

with job and salary

Paper and related

products (16)

27.3

45.5

78.6

71.4

Most likely to pay for training

and ASQ certifications

Primary metals (21)

62.5

62.5

89.7

84.5

Least likely to pay for training

and ASQ certifications

Educational services
(24)

70.6

76.5

61.4

42.1

All industries

Respondents least likely to be satisfied

with either their jobs or salaries came from
the paper and related products industry.
Employers of respondents in the primary
metals industry were most likely to pay for
quality-related training and ASQ certifications. Employers of respondents in educational services were least likely to pay for
quality-related training and ASQ certifica-

Organizations that pay for training

seem to have happier employees,
with 63.9% being satisfied with their
salaries, compared to the 61% average
for all respondents.

tions.

More about culture online

The results presented here are just a few
highlights of what the survey analysis uncovered related to an organizations culture of quality and employee salary. The
analysis also addressed whether respondents were satisfied with other aspects of
their jobs unrelated to salary. These and
other findings are detailed in section 30, an
extended version of this article dedicated
to salary and the culture of quality.

MAX CHRISTIAN HANSEN is a

management consultant based in
Sacramento, CA. In the past, he has
helped auto parts manufacturers
with their first implementations of
statistical process controls and has
lectured on data quality at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT). Hansen has an MBA from
MITs Sloan School of Management in Cambridge.

LOOK BACK AT PAST SURVEYS

Each years salary survey report aims to provide career planners and hiring
managers with fresh ideas to help them strategize about careers and future
hires.
Including this years article, the four most recent surveys cover several
aspects that can aid in moving your career forward. Here is a list of topics
covered in QP Salary Survey reports since 2011.
Value of ASQ certifications: In 2011, the report highlighted the value of
ASQ certifications and showed that when the certification is well-matched
to the job its holder performs, it provides a hefty boost to the paycheck.
Value of education: In 2012, the report analyzed how formal education
affects salary. While every report looks at salary by highest degree of
education held by respondent, the 2012 article applied extra statistical
rigor to the question, confirming the high value of education beyond the
four-year degree.
What hiring managers look for in job prospects: In 2013, hiring
managers were polled about what they look for in a new hire.
All of these articles are included the survey reports for their respective
years and can be accessed at http://asq.org/qualityprogress/tools-resources/
salarysurvey/index.htm.

December 2014 QP 21